Exit Slip: The "Formatting Power" of Math

In helping raise new generations of young people: 

• how to do well (for themselves) and how to do good (in the world) 
• how to support students and ourselves with the anxieties of our times 
• how to avoid chasing the "hot issue of the day"

Our group discussed how global issues such as global warming is so broad and intimidating to think about that students and people in general aren't able to know where to start or if their efforts can even make an impact. However, if we narrowed the scope to students' own communities, it would make the tasks less daunting. For example, when one teacher in the Barwell reading had students research and make suggestions for solutions to an incident in their community and their work was actually acted upon, it shows students that their efforts can have a positive impact on the world around them. This in turn would motivate students to realize and think more about how their actions affect the world around them, and hopefully strive to make a positive change. 

Another question our group brought up was where to draw the line when wanting to support students and their issues? What are we as teachers able to help students with, and what topics would we have to let others (parents, counsellors, etc.) handle? I thought that this was an important question to think about given we may come to witness many things that happen in our students' lives. 

Implicit stories and assumptions of math: 

As a class, we discussed many stereotypes and assumptions people have about math. The ones I resonated and agreed with the most were how many people assume "math is hard / math is for smart people" and that math is about memorizing things / there is some set method and solution to a problem. As someone with a math major, people assume we're "good" at math, but there's so many fields of mathematics and people are stronger and weaker in different areas. One person might love discrete math but struggle with geometry, and someone else vice versa. Then who here is "good" at math? I think it's these assumptions we make about ourselves and our own abilities (being "good" at math or not) that limits our thinking and ability to grow and improve. 

Entrance Slip: Climate Crisis

As educators, we are the ones who expose students to new information and teach them important lessons. We are also an adult students learn from, so we are also role models to them. Therefore, it makes sense that we should also bring awareness to students about important events that are happening in the world that will likely affect their lives. 

I do think that we, as teacher candidates, have the ability to make changes to the way we teach our subject areas, in this case math, because we are new and still forming our own ideologies about teaching and what it means to be a teacher. Having new teachers learn about ways to integrate topics such as global warming into their own classrooms is a great place to start in bringing awareness of these issues to future students. Furthermore, I liked how the article mentioned that doing so is also a great way to allow students to "have opportunities to reflect on how mathematics is useful" (p.176), since one of my goals is to make math more relevant (and interesting) to students. It was interesting to read about how other teachers had their class participate in real-life problems and data collection and used their research mathematically to make inferences, connections, etc. I think this would be a great learning opportunity for the students and, if possible, I would love to try doing such an activity/project. 

Climate change is unfortunately a really great issue and I can really feel its effects from the weather I've experienced over the years (especially from the extreme heat waves and higher occurrences of forest fires). I do want to work towards slowing down global warming, but I never know where to start and I feel this is the case for many other people too. Even though people bring up the issue and awareness of it, I think it doesn't do much if people don't know what some steps they can take are and/or the things they can think of are too difficult to do/completely upheaves their way of life. 

Exit Slip: Traditional Crafts (rope making, braiding, etc)

I liked the idea of having everyone sit in our "favourite spot" from last class and observe any changes. I think for rowdy teenagers, it's a nice way to calm them down, get them focused for the class and have them also appreciate the world around them. Especially when climate change was brought up near the end of class, I think having people appreciate nature increases the incentive to try to preserve it. 

In terms of incorporating outdoors and math together, it reminded me of back in high school, there was a class where students went outdoors to measure the height of the school using angles and distance (application of trigonometry calculations in the real world). I think this could also be applied to measuring other things in the garden, such as the height of a tree. Additionally, when making the rope, I ended up making a loop at one end and thought about how it could be used to hang things and I think it could be used in physics, for example, in creating a pulley system. The outdoor, creative, hands-on, exploratory aspects of outdoor teaching makes lessons more enjoyable and interesting by finding ways to use the theoretical concepts learned in the classroom for solving problems in real life. 

Entrance Slip: Eco-art (Sharon Kallis) and Craft Techniques

In the excerpt from Sharon Kallis' book, I liked the saying "honey attracts more flies than vinegar" (p.22) because I can relate to this. Rather than trying to scare people into giving up the convenience of consumerism, I find it much more effective to instead show how fun and rewarding making something yourself is. For me, I gained interest in crocheting because of all the unique, cute and/or useful things I could make myself and it didn't seem so difficult to do. 

I really liked how the rope-making and yarn plying video incorporated mentions of biological science (structure of DNA helices) and some physics (opposite forces balance out so the rope does not unwind) because it shows how even these simple crafts can be extended to incorporate various subject areas you don't expect. 

I was surprised to see a macrame craft video (the 7-strand braid) because just this summer, I started on some macrame crafts too! So far, I've mainly made small macrame friendship bracelets, but there's so many interesting projects out there! 

I'm looking forward to trying the 3 craft techniques from the videos in class!

6 petal flower bracelet

5 petal flower bracelet

Josephine knot bracelet

Learning Gardens

My sketch for the lines and angles activity.

My old schools had school gardens, yet I've always thought of them as places for extra-curricular activities. However, the idea of using an outdoor garden space as a resource for teaching was a really new perspective for me. Experiencing it firsthand in class, it was a pleasant change of pace and environment and surprisingly a fun experience. It would definitely be a great way to give students a break from being indoors and appreciate the weather, life and world around us. 

In terms of math, I liked the idea of a hyperboloid gate and Platonic solid wind socks written in the article, as well as the lines and angles activity we did in class. I think it's a great way to show students that the abstract concepts they learn in class, such as angles and lines, can be found everywhere around us without even realizing it. I'm always looking for ways to make math lessons more interesting and meaningful, and learning gardens are looking to be a great addition to the list! :) 

Entrance Slip: Being a Reflective Teacher

The Mary Smith story resonated with me because I've also had some experiences with students who didn't listen or do as told, and teachers I've talked to have told me stories of others who quit early on in their teaching career because they couldn't handle it. I think it's natural as TC's to have idealistic views of the classroom and then be dumped on by reality once they step into a classroom. However, I think to be a good teacher, one has to persevere and keep trying (because they truly want to make an impact on students' lives). That's why I agree that being reflective and learning from our mistakes rather than running away when things don't go as planned is what's needed to for prospective teachers to grow and move forward. 

The article has made me realize that I need to play a more active role as a TC by questioning the norm (what we take for granted), such as why teachers structure a lesson in the way they do or how they decide how long to spend on one topic/unit versus another, rather than passively accepting things as they are at face value. By inquiring into the process, I would gain more insight into different perspectives and I believe that will give me insight and ideas on how I want to structure my lessons and my own goals as a teacher. Every teacher is different and inquiring into other perspectives helps us shape ourselves into the teachers we want to become.

I leave off with a quote from the article I really liked: (p. 114)

"there is a fundamental choice for you to make: whether you will give some direction to your training or let others direct it for you" 

Exit Slip: Frank McCourt

"The best acting is no acting at all"

- Frank McCourt (at 0:33)

This quote really stood out to me because I think being honest with who you are to your students will allow your students, in turn, to open up about who they really are to you and the rest of the class. Instead of pretending to be someone you're not and building up invisible walls between you and your students, I feel that being your true self helps to build a closer connection with your students because they see that you too experience what they feel and are just as human as they are. 

https://www.pxfuel.com/en/free-photo-jrgdu

During the class discussion afterwards, the topic of how strict and how friendly should a teacher act towards their student was brought up. This reminded me about my times working as a tutor and how I've been told by my superiors that I was "too kind" or "need to be more strict." However, I've always wondered, how do you balance kindness and strictness? Sometimes I feel there's a fine line when being strict, if you're not strict enough, the students might not take you seriously, but if you're too strict, it could restrain or oppress your students and make the classroom feel unwelcoming. It makes me curious if current teachers have methods they use or perhaps, do they maintain some hard-set rules they adhere to towards their students to enact their sense of strictness? What are their definitions of strictness and kindness when in the role of a teacher? Does it differ when out of that role?

Hello world!

Hi everyone! This is my first blog post 😊 

Also a warm welcome from Randall the Radish 💕